This invention relates to the useful features that are added to an ordinary telephone transceiver, hereafter called telephone or phone. There are four main basic functions required of an ordinary telephone: the first is to convert audio signal from the mouth piece to electrical signal for the central switching system; the second is to convert electrical signal from the central switching system to the ear piece; the third is to provide a means for the caller to specify the destination telephone number desired; the last one is a means to signal that a call is waiting.
In the early days, the telephone was rather primitive. The technology was limited. Many things were done manually. The caller had to tell an operator what the destination number he wanted. With the advents of relays, vacuum tubes, transistors and integrated circuits, we saw the telephone change from rotary dials to touch tone to memory speed dialing and to cordless phone.
This invention further improves the usefulness of the telephone. This invention consists of the following items that may be incorporated in a common telephone.
MST-Money Saver Timer, it is a built in timer on the telephone that tells the caller how much time he has left of the current message unit for long distance calls. For residential and most commercial lines, each message unit is one minute in duration. The usage charge is based on the number of units taken. Frequently, however, most of the last message unit is wasted if the caller terminates the call before the whole unit is consumed. Since, there is not any timer on the telephone to tell him where he is timewise, he cannot easily decide when he should terminate the conversation. The result is that he wastes all the unused seconds in the last message unit. To him as a consumer, it is an economic loss. For transcontinental and international calls, it is considerably expensive to waste one message unit. Of course, he can use his watch or the clock on the wall to keep time. But it will certainly distract his attention from the conversation. This newly invented MST will solve this problem. It is a simple digital display timer that is conveniently positioned on the telephone that shows the total number of message units elapsed and the status of the current message unit or toll unit. It shows how many more seconds remaining of the current message unit. This way, the caller can easily determine when to terminate the call. To use the Money Saver Timer, the caller will dial a toll call as usual and wait until the call is answered. As soon as the call is picked up on the other side, the MST will be activated by its own sensing electronics or by a switch pushed by the caller manually. He can then look at the MST display every now and then to see how many message units he has used and where he is in the current message unit. Also, an indicator light will flash to warn him when the current toll unit is about to end. When the call is finished, the MST can be reset electronically by monitoring the line condition when the call is finished, or it can be reset manually by the caller. After reset, the MST switch can become a digital clock.
TPS, Telephone Panic Switch--Nowadays, Crime and personal security are becoming a serious concern for many people in any big city. Even in the comfort of their own home, people are worried about intruders. Any product that can discourage the intruder or seek help from the outside world when an intrusion is occurring will be very beneficial to these people.
This TPS invention can specifically provide a solution to this problem. Once activated, it can automatically call a list of prestored telephone numbers and send a pre-stored emergency message to each number called. Since all the telephone numbers and the emergency message are stored in semiconductor memory, the whole calling operation is carried out in absolute silence. Not even the mechanical noice of a tape player. Only the person that activated the panic switch knows the events occurring. The TPS will automatically call each number on the list and send out the message when the call is picked up. The list may contain phone numbers for the police, the neighbors and friends. The TPS consists of an electronic circuit and a physical switch connected to it. The electronic circuit can be an integral part of a telephone or housed in a separate box, which is then connected to the telephone line. The physical switch can be concealed in any convenient place.
MOHC, Music On Hold Card--many modern electronic telephones have the HOLD capability. It allows the user to temporarity disable the telephone without actually disconnecting it. This way, the other party will not be able to hear anything from the phone. However, the major drawback of this kind of HOLD is that the party on HOLD might become so bored that he hangs up prematurely. We have recently seen an improvement of the HOLD: instead of complete silence, the party that is put on HOLD will hear a pre-recorded song or music. Unfortunately, the underlying problem is still not completely eliminated: the party on HOLD will still feel bored if the music is always the same. This is especially annoying for those frequent callers.
For those big central telephone systems, it is not too difficult to change or cycle the music for HOLD. One simple way is to connect a radio or tape player to the central HOLD circuit. This is actually working quite well for commercial installations. But what about the average person? What about those millions of inexpensive desk top, counter top, phones? Up to this moment, the most common method is using a built in solid stae music generator inside the telephone. The music generator will repetatively play the song(s) recorded in it when the HOLD is activated. This is preferred over a radio or tape player because of size and cost considerations. But the solution is still not complete: no matter how interesting the recorded songs are, they are bound to cause boredom if they are always the same-
This MOHC invention improves on the current technology and provides a better solution to the problem. Each MOHC is a small printed circuit board the size of a postal stamp with all the integrated electronics on it to generate music or song(s). It can be plugged into the telephone with ease: as simple as changing the battery in a toy. This way, the telephone owner can change the card frequently to suit the occasion, much like changing a tape or compact disc. He can, for example, put in a MOHC card that plays Christmas songs in December. In fact, he can keep a library of these MOHC cards for different occasions.